Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
  • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
  • G06Q10/0631—Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
  • G06Q10/06311—Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
  • G06Q10/063114—Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group

Definitions

• the step of electronically detecting a physical presence of the service personnel may further comprise providing one or more mechanical switches adjacent each of the environmental equipment systems to be activated by the one or more service personnel for recording the physical presence.
• the step of electronically detecting a physical presence may further comprise providing an electronic reader, e.g., a bar code reader or tag reader, adjacent each of the environmental equipment systems to be activated by a respective identifier such as a bar code or tag or magnetic ship or other automatic identifiers carried by each of the service personnel for recording the physical presence.
• the step of electronically detecting a physical presence may further comprise recording a time and date of the physical presence of the service personnel.
• FIG. 3 is a schematic flow diagram relating to operation of an event data transmitter that may be utilized by each of a plurality of environmental equipment systems in accord with one possible prefei ⁇ ed embodiment of the present invention
• the regulatory body typically has a limited number of employees and limited funds, and therefore has limited ability to conduct investigations of thousands (or tens or hundreds of thousands) of separately owned home wastewater treatment facilities to verify compliance with regulations. For instance, it is presently impractical for a regulatory body to reliably verify occurrence of equipment failures at each of thousands of homeowner wastewater treatment facilities and whether the equipment failures are timely reported or reported at all. . Even for those systems that automatically report failures to the service company, the regulatory body has no practical way of determining if and when repairs have been made.
• Controller 12 and/or receiver/processor 14 may utilize a clock to determine the time/date of the moment the button is pushed by the service personnel, thereby verifying physical presence of the service provider at the environmental equipment installation.
• the clock is utilized to produce a time stamp related to the service, whether the service is an inspection, a repair, or both.
• the button may have a lockout such that it can only be activated once every twenty-four hours.
• the button may operate with a program defining a time period in which a particular number of button pushes must be made within a specified time period and are used to verify physical presence of an authorized service technician, e.g., twelve button pushes within a one-minute time period.
• a keypad may be provided with a code known by each service personnel whereby the data comprises not only the time/date of service but also may provide the identity of the certified service personnel.
• Other information may also be provided by input through a keypad such as the type of service or repair, time on location, items repaired, and the like, as desired.
• authorization cards with magnetic strip readers, bar code readers, tag readers, and the like may be utilized to quickly provide time/date/identity information without the need for any keypad input.
• the service personnel detector may be carried by the service personnel.
• controller 12 provides a visual or auditory indication to the service personnel, such as an L.E.D. indicator, to verify that his/her presence has been detected and thus ensure that the correct data will be transmitted, as discussed hereinafter.
• a visual or auditory indication to the service personnel, such as an L.E.D. indicator, to verify that his/her presence has been detected and thus ensure that the correct data will be transmitted, as discussed hereinafter.
• Central receiver 14 and/or website servers 18 may be utilized in accord with one preferred embodiment of the invention to accumulate data from a plurality of wastewater installations and/or other data producers for distribution and utilization of the data to verify regulatory compliance.
• FIG.2 shows one possible basic configuration of such a system whereby a plurality of any number N of wastewater installations as indicated at 20, 22, and 24 communicate with web server 26.
• Web server 26 may distribute information by an efficient low-cost means to any number N of regulatory bodies as indicated at 28 and 30 and as discussed hereinafter.
• Web server 26 may also collect data from other sources, such as subscriber contract active/cancelled status, along with other service contract information or other data, from any number N of service companies as indicated at 32, 34, and 36 for each of the plurality of wastewater installations 20, 22, and 24.
• service from installation 10 does not start until paid for by the service company who is required to service the wastewater installation of concern. Therefore, it may be assumed that the service company has already been paid by the owner for the service contract. Thus, reports related to service contracts to be forwarded to the regulatory body may be generated automatically based on whether monitoring services utilizing unit 10 has been paid for by the service company.
• an independent third party may operate central receiver 14 and notify the environmental body if contracts for monitoring using central receiver 14 and unit 12 are not renewed as discussed in more detail subsequently.
• receiver/ processor 14 may be utilized to receive data from any number N of environmental equipment installations, such as thousands of wastewater treatment systems as indicated by 20, 22, and 24. In a preferred embodiment, receiver/processor 14 may also be utilized to contact any number N of service companies to notify the respective service company of an alarm from any particular environmental equipment installation that requires servicing. Alternatively, website 18 may be utilized to provide alarm notifications to the appropriate service company 38. Receiver/processor 14 and website 18 maybe combined and effectively operate utilizing common electronic equipment or may be located at different locations. Website 18 may be a website on the Internet, a network, or a bulletin board accessible through a modem, an ISP, or any other suitable means for communicating from computer to computer. Alternatively, and/or simultaneously with receiver/processor 14, website 18 may receive information directly from controller 12 as indicated by communication line 17 which may be a telephone computer link up or any other data communication channel.
• receiver/processor 14 and/or website 18 may provide a central monitoring station that identifies the location, type of alarm event and, if required, immediate notification to a designated service company either from receiver/processor 14, from website 18, or by other suitable means, as discussed in more detail subsequently.
• Service calls detected by service personnel detector 16 that are designated as routine inspections are preferably time-stamped and logged without the need to provide immediate notification to the service company, unless otherwise requested by the service company, whereby such an option may be provided on website 18.
• Notification warnings may be sent from receiver/processor 14 and/or website 1 S by e-mail/fax/pager/program to the appropriate service company by other suitable means, if desired.
• other communication interconnections may be utilized.
• transmitter 12 might also connect directly to service company 38 to provide a warning or notice of event as indicated by dotted communication line 39; however, in this case appropriate communications should be provided to update the records kept by receiver/processor 14.
• transmitter 12 may also transmit event data to receiver/processor 14 and/or service company 38 may transmit data to receiver/processor 14 through solid communication line 41.
• Two-way communication may also be effected from maintenance entity 38 to controller 12 either by communication line 39 or communication line 41 to allow for testing, measurements, and controlling of the particular type of environmental installation involved.
• Other communication networks may be utilized for processing, forwarding, and storing data in accord with the methods of the invention as discussed herein.
• receiver/processor 14 and/or website 18 may also receive and store data related to service contracts for each environmental installation and thereby automatically route the alarm to the correct environmental equipment installation.
• Receiver/processor 14 and/or website 18 stores the service contract data including renewal status and can send out renewal notices either directly to the homeowner or simply notify the appropriate service company. If the service contract is not renewed, as will normally be required by regulations, then receiver/processor 14 and/or website 18 stores this contract status information and preferably forwards or makes available the contract status information to regulatory agency 40.
• Regulatory agency 40 preferably may utilize software or systems in accord with the present invention that permit notification to the responsible parties, such as the homeowner and/or service company whose address and/or other contact information is stored by receiver/processor 14 and/or website 18, of noncompliance with regulations that require the homeowner to renew the service contract.
• regulatory agency 40 may download form letters filled in and ready to mail.
• receiver/processor 14 and/or website 18 could also be utilized to automatically forward the form letter to the homeowner or responsible party on behalf of the regulatory agency and/or notify the agency by e-mail or other means that the noncompliance letter/e-mail/fax or the like has been sent and the date of mailing.
• Other types of communication besides form letters are also possible.
• the respective service company 38 notifies receiver/processor 14 and/or website 18 of the status, time period, particular installation, ownership and responsibility data, addresses, names, and so forth for the new contract. If monitoring utilizing unit 10 is not renewed, or if it is renewed, then such information may be implied while providing options to note changes.
• Service personnel provide the labor of servicing that should be made in a timely manner.
• service personnel may be required to be authorized representatives.
• Service personnel may be comprised of organizations, groups, individuals, or other entities that may be required to be authorized to distribute sell, install, and/or service environmental equipment systems such as wastewater treatment systems.
• Service companies may typically provide such service personnel.
• Service companies may include organizations, groups, individuals, or other entities.
• an owner for each environmental equipment system may be an individual, municipality, government, corporate, or other type of entity.
• the owner may typically be responsible for servicing such as the labor of maintenance/repairs/inspections and so forth of the environmental equipment system and may have contracted to have certified servicing performed by a service company utilizing certified personnel.
• the service company which may be the owner's agent who has contracted to provide the service, may then also be a responsible party.
• a third party should be sufficiently independent of any motivation to avoid reporting noncompliance that a government body or certification body might reasonably recognize the third party as being independent.
• a service provider or environmental equipment system owner would not be independent because such parties could significantly benefit from cost savings if repairs or inspections are not made, of if the repairs/inspections are not made in a timely manner, or if the noncompliance with regulations was simply not reported.
• a third party would have no motivation to avoid reporting noncompliance with regulations and would not benefit by saving costs such as a service provider or system owner might.
• Dialer 48 then sends a message to report the over current condition so that repairs can be made. Other controls shift the work load to the other engine.
• dialer/processor 48 may be utilized to provide bounce delays for a mechanical button or switch such as a programmed lockout time period or other means after an initial contact to verify that the service personnel actually activated the signal. Therefore, input 46, which may, for instance be provided by personnel detector 16may therefore be from a single switch or button, multiple switches such as a key pad, an electronic reader of some type, or any other means to indicate the actual physical presence of a service provider. Input 46 may also include data that identifies the particular service personnel such as a tag, magnetic strip, bar code, or the like.
• Processor 48 or other components in receiver 14 may be utilized to determine the type of service provided by the service personnel, e.g., repair or routine inspection or both. Thus, processor 48 may refer to whether an alarm is active or not to interpret the meaning of the call. If a keypad is utilized, the service personnel could also indicate this information by inputting the appropriate code for either a repair service call, routine inspection, or both.
• Dialer 50 may then be used to send data to receiver 14 either by a standard telephone line or by cellular telephone where a standard telephone line is not available. While a dialer is a low-cost embodiment in accord with a presently preferred embodiment, any other type of data communication line could be utilized. If desired, dialer 50 may utilize the telephone communications industry standard 4+2 format. Dialer 50 may in one embodiment utilize a code, such as a hexadecimal code or other type of code, that identifies a unique account number associated with the particular environmental equipment system, the alarm event, and/or the onsite report recognition of the physical presence of a service personnel. Dialer 50 may contain the phone number to be dialed in memory. The phone number may be changed by two-way communication from receiver 14, as desired. Account information will be transmitted that permits receiver 14 and/or website 18 to identify the particular environmental equipment system, type thereof, manufacturer, owner, installer, service contract status, service company, and so forth.
• a code such as a hexadecimal code or other type of code
• dialer 50 Programming of dialer 50 is indicated at blocks.52, 54, 56, 58, and 60 to thereby control the operation of dialer 50 in a presently preferred manner.
• the type of phone line connection may be programmed therein for receiver 14, handshake connections, protocol for data, decision-making as to resetting of alarms, and so forth. If a successful call is completed as indicated at 54, no further calls are needed, and depending on whether the code is for an alarm or for an inspection, a reset may or may not be made. If the call is not successful, as indicated at 56, then retry routine 58 may be activated whereby the time between the next retry is determined along with the number of retries attempted.
• routine 58 may delay further attempts until the next day after a certain number of attempts have been made. Busy signals may produce a different response. If receiver 14 accepts the call as indicated at 60, then the appropriate resets are made. While this program of operation is presently desired, other possible dialer operation formats may also be used.
• FIG. 4 provides an overview of a presently preferred embodiment of receiver/processor 14.
• dialer 12 or another type of transmitter, sends data to receiver 62 by telephone lines, cellular transmission, or any other type of data link.
• Various communication checks such as parity checks, acknowledgments, and the like can be used to eliminate transmission of incorrect data.
• receiver 62 is preferably a single receiver, receiver 62 might also comprise multiple receivers that act together. For instance, there could be a separate receiver 62 for different geographical areas or countries, which then transmit the data to another receiver or group of receivers; however, in one presently .
• all data is preferably stored in a manner to be accessible in real time by the regulatory body without the need to search multiple locations and/or repeatably update a plurality of remote data collecting systems 62 to a central station or website 18.
• the collected data as discussed hereinbefore, relates to events that occur at each of a plurality of environmental equipment installations.
• the data Upon receipt, the data is translated by receiver 62 and the raw data is preferably stored in a data storage medium 64.
• Receiver 62 may also comprise a clock to time and date the receipt of each event. If desired, a time stamp may already have been attached to the event data from dialer 12, as discussed above. If no previous time stamp was produced, or even if one was produced, the time stamp of receiver 62 indicates when the data was received by receiver 62. The time-stamp information is utilized to determine timely compliance with inspection requirements and repairs. If desired, a hard copy of all events for any desired period or for each event logged may be printed at 66. Main processor 68 is programmed to make decisions upon receipt of the data. For instance, if a warning event occurs such that repairs are necessary, then notification is made at 70. Processor 68 stores information that permits contacting the particular service company 72 that has an existing contract for servicing the particular environmental equipment system for which a repair warning event has been received.
• Activity monitor 88 may be used to classify the events and store a log of events. For instance, the events received by receiver 62 might be classified as to whether they are alarm events, routine inspections, system start-up, system shut-down, contract renewal, and so forth.
• the cataloged data may be supplied to history module 86 where it may be utilized for accounting/billing purposes. Data may also be posted to website 18 as indicated at 90.
• the regulatory agency can receive notifications, make inquiries, print forms, obtain status reports, and so forth as desired.
• the regulatory agency could also send messages to the respective homeowners, responsible parties, or service company through the website, as desired. Subscribers 94, such as service companies who subscribe to features such as schedulers that keep track of all inspection requirements for each unit, may also contact the website.
• FIG. 5 provides an overview of various preferred functions of website 18 that may be produced by one or more servers and with data storage at one or more locations.
• interactive website/database 96 may comprise electronic equipment located at the same general location as receiver/processor 16 and/or be located at different locations.
• website 18 servers and receiver/processor 16 may or may not utilize common equipment, as desired, and may or may not be located at the same physical location.
• An administrator may remotely operate interactive website 96 as indicated at 98.
• Website 18 may utilize central station database 100 for data storage and data backup storage, as desired.
• access to website 98 is by unique password security as indicated at 102.
• each maintenance entity 104 and each regulatory agency 106 has its own password. The passwords may preferably provide, or be associated with, different levels of access and/or services.
• Items 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, and 118 give examples of some, presently preferred services available to the regulatory agency in accord with the present invention.
• the regulatory agency may obtain service company information 108, such as listings of environmental units under contract, the make of the units, the dealer/installer, the address or physical location of the units, the history of service for the service company in percentages, noncompliance past history, and so forth.
• owner information 110 is available, such as addresses and names or, if the owner is not responsible, other parties, such as operators, companies, or local governments.
• a history of past events, responses, and so forth as well as a history of equipment failures may be obtained.
• Scheduled maintenance/inspection information 112 is readily available, and histories for each type of equipment can be obtained. From this and event information such as the physical presence data and/or data regarding classification as to inspection/repair visits, the regulatory agency can also determine whether inspections have been timely performed in compliance with the regulations. The regulatory agency can also obtain listings of all alarm events as indicated at 114, the times of the related responses, or whether any response has been made. Histories with respect to particular service companies and/or owners can also be obtained. Event histories may also be retrieved for particular time periods as indicated at 116.
• preprinted noncompliance forms can be produced at 118 that are addressed to the responsible parties. It will be imderstood that the data can be organized and retrieved in many different ways and formats and that many options may be provided for convenience and speed of operation by the regulatory agency.
• An oversight agency through password supervision, may access accounts of a local agency and review their status. Searching may be made in many different ways such as by specific time period, name, equipment type, subscriber listings, service company, and so forth. Thus, the present invention also allows an oversight agency to review local agency compliance.
• service companies 104 can obtain many helpful and valuable sendees through interactive website 96 as indicated at 120, 122, 124, 126, 128, and 130. Moreover, service companies can enter a significant amount of data into website 96 for use by the service companies in the future for scheduling such as future inspections, future contract renewal requests for homeowners, and the like. Thus, at subscriber information 120, information about the service company is input including contact information, location, and so forth. Scheduled maintenance/inspection schedules are available at 122 and may be provided as a convenience for companies that might otherwise pay significant sums to develop or purchase software for scheduling purposes. The website may be used by companies to generate bills, renewal notices, service notices, and other comments or advisories to customers or other interested parties.
• service personnel that are in a particular area for other reasons such as repairs may be able to log into or have the service company log into the scheduler to determine if efficiencies can be achieved by performing inspections while the service personnel is already in that area.
• scheduler function 122 is likely to reduce operating costs for the service company.
• Service companies may also be able to obtain event histories 124 relating to histories of operation, timely response, timely repair, records of repair for each service personnel and for each environmental equipment installation, types of installations, and so forth. If desired, the data may be limited to data related to those service companies' operations.
• the type of equipment installed on each site may be available at 126 along with repair/maintenance history and so forth.
• the service company inputs information about the subscriber contract status and may have preprinted forms mailed to the subscriber before the contract expires, with perhaps standardized warning letters to advise about regulations requiring renewal of the service contract.
• the users may print or save the above and other information to e-mail as desired as indicated at 130.
• a regulatory agency may set up an account having a password 102 to website 96 that enables the agency to view all accounts. If desired, only those accounts in noncompliance can be viewed and may be cataloged in various ways such as, for instance: alarm with no response, inspection not reported in a designated time period, or an account not actively in monitoring status.
• the present invention may verify compliance with standards such as the NSF International specification for third-party certification that requires that a wastewater treatment facility be repaired within 48 hours after an alarm.
• the present invention may also verify compliance with NSF
• the present invention may also verify NSF International specifications requiring a service agreement to be renewed at least on an annual or biannual basis.
• the • regulatory agency is able to view the entity responsible for maintaining the equipment, the contact person, the telephone number, the equipment installed on location, and the history of all monitoring events. Should notification be necessary for noncompliance, a preprinted form may be downloaded from the website with the subscriber's information automatically inserted into the form for mail-out.
• the service company also benefits by the present invention in that a password-protected account is available showing all subscriber accounts due for maintenance, contract renewal, service personnel records for those embodiments where the particular service person is identified, and an all-events history for the equipment.

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• 2001
  • 2001-11-02 US US10/003,633 patent/US7149701B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2002
  • 2002-11-01 EP EP02802826A patent/EP1450923B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-11-01 AT AT02802826T patent/ATE419910T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2002-11-01 MX MXPA04004227A patent/MXPA04004227A/es not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2002-11-01 CA CA2465526A patent/CA2465526C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-11-01 DE DE60230804T patent/DE60230804D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-11-01 JP JP2003542442A patent/JP2005508543A/ja active Pending
  • 2002-11-01 WO PCT/US2002/035189 patent/WO2003040876A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2002-11-01 NZ NZ532660A patent/NZ532660A/en not_active IP Right Cessation

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